Spurrier: The numbers tell the real story

Hoover, Ala. — The grand ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel is Ground Zero at SEC Media Days. While the TV folks get the most attention, this room is reserved for the hard-core newspaper and internet writing force that sets the tone for this event. Coaches who come here for the first time find it a bit unnerving. This is a hard-to-impress bunch. This much you can count on.

When Steve Spurrier addresses “The Media Boys,” as he loves to call them, this room is full. This was Spurrier’s 22nd Media Days as a head coach in the SEC (10 at South Carolina, 12 at Florida). And over those two decades this event is filled with memories that only Spurrier could provide.

My favorite was the year that Spurrier, a long-time playoff advocate, was asked point-blank why there wasn’t a playoff. Spurrier pointed to the back of the room where SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer was listening intently. “There’s the commissioner back there,” Spurrier said. “Why don’t you ask him? Commissioner! How come we don’t have a playoff yet?”

Then there was the year that Spurrier, a former Heisman Trophy winner from Florida, left Tim Tebow, another Florida Heisman Trophy winner, off his preseason All-SEC ballot. He fixed that. But forget the entertainment value. Because when it comes to Spurrier, the numbers don’t lie.

Check these out:

42: His number of wins in the past four seasons at South Carolina.

11: Number of wins in each of the past three seasons.

6: Number of SEC Championships. Only Paul “Bear” Bryant has won more with 14. Vince Dooley (Georgia) and John Vaught (Ole Miss) have also won six.

10: Spurrier is entering his 10th season at South Carolina. He coached 12 seasons at Florida. He is the only coach in SEC history to spend 10 seasons at two different schools.

77: Wins at South Carolina, which is the school record. Rex Enright had the previous record with 64.

2: Only two coaches in SEC history are the career wins leader at two different schools: Bear Bryant (Kentucky, Alabama) and Steve Spurrier (Florida, South Carolina).

23-1: Spurrier’s record in season-opening games. His only loss in a season opener came in 1989 when Duke lost 27-21 at South Carolina. That Duke team would go on to win the ACC Championship. South Carolina opens this season on Aug. 28 at home against Texas A&M.

128: Spurrier’s SEC wins recorded in 21 seasons as a head coach. Bryant leads the list with 159, in 33 seasons (eight at Kentucky, 25 at Alabama).

18: Consecutive home wins at South Carolina going into this season. He turned 69 years old on April 20 and shows no sign of slowing down. He’s having too much fun.

“I’ve got better players now and that makes me a better coach,” Spurrier said. “We’ve got our facilities where we want them. We have the boosters stepping up and helping us with their money.

“I don’t get nearly as mad as I used too when things don’t go well. But I’ve learned how to get away from it and relax.”

He’s still The Head Ball Coach. Some like him. Some don’t. But trust me, we’re all going to miss him when he’s gone.

Spurrier has had a winning record at SC due to defense where at Fl. he kept a high powered offense and ran scores up. He also uses the NOISE factor in SC just as he did in Fla especially when they are hosting UGA.

Spurrier knows what he is doing. There may be an AD at SC, but he is the AD for SC Football. All he has to do is find a way to beat Georgia, and SC wins the SEC East. Period. The Gamecocks would be nothing without him, and if he defeats Georgia (hopefully not), I will go out on a limb and say SC will have their final chance at an SEC Championship before he retires. In addition, it may be Mark Richt's final opportunity at an SEC Championship as coach at Georgia. Mike Anderson versus Todd Gurley is going to be amazing. Bama can be had in December...possibly. Or will it be LSU?

Spurrier is amusing as long as you can just watch him on TV or read some interview. He is a good coach, but a total a-hole in real life. I have personally been around him on numerous occasions where he completely showed his rear end to colleagues, innocent bystanders, fellow coaches, etc.... If you ask any of the old school SEC coaches who have known him for years, they would tell you the same. I know of a group who had to stop inviting him to a golf outing they had each year because he would be so competitive that he would berate one of their customers or someone else in his foursome over a missed put in a friendly scramble. We all want to win, but some people want to win, and also just so happen to be obnoxious jerks about it. Spurrier is one of them.

Coach Spurrier is an amusing guy who has coached long enough to get a lot of wins. His South Carolina teams have won some big regular season games, but his South Carolina teams have been to exactly one SEC championship game, and lost by 40 points. He's lucky the media have such a big crush on him.

someone shouldve asked him whats its like to be coaching the jv team compared to us uscjr still hasnt won a sec championship and someone should ask nick satan what there payroll is this year nick have you ever looked in the mirrer and wanted to vomit? wouldve been another good question.

@WhiskeyBreath But the Dawgs have (and always have had) the last laugh on Spurrier, that's why he hates us so much - in '66 we ruined his SE/Natty chances his senior season at Florida (there is a good article out tere on why he hates Ga. and how we beat him like a rag doll on national tv and SI was here to do a cover story on him (which didn't happen after the game). His record against Georgia as a player ? 1-2